2012-02-15 - Television NewsDiane Alter - AHN News ReporterOprah in hot water with Nielsen after tweets

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (AHN) -- Oprah Winfrey, once the queen of daytime TV, finds herself in hot water with Nielsen, the company that measures television viewership, after she pleaded with her Twitter followers to tune into her OWN channel.

The tweets raised an issue of ethics among followers, and more importantly, an issue of ratings manipulation for Nielsen.

The tweets in question were sent by the talk show host Sunday, the night of the Grammy Awards. Oprah tweeted, "Every 1 who can please turn to OWN especially if u have a Nielsen box." She later added, "Commercial Grammy people.. u can turn to OWN."

Many fans criticized her tweets, other replied politely.

Nielsen called the tweets a potential violation of its policy. The company, which tracks the viewing habits of some 25,000 U.S. households, is diligent in making sure no one is coerced to watch a specific program or channels, which would skew results.